HP, Verizon, GE Present Decidedly Cloudy IT Forecast

By Wayne Rash |
Posted 2010-06-16

HP, Verizon, GE Present Decidedly Cloudy IT Forecast

When Hewlett-Packard launched its Software
Universe event June 15 with a presentation on cloud computing, it was just
the start of a day about clouds. HP kicked things off with its announcement at
a massive event held at the Gaylord National conference center at Washington's
National Harbor,
and featured Bill Veghte, who recently arrived at HP after a long stint at
Microsoft. Veghte said that about three-quarters of businesses are pursuing
cloud computing in one way or another.

Meanwhile, General Electric was holding an event in
downtown Washington at which it
announced its electronic
medical records software-as-a-service product. This platform is aimed at
giving small medical practices a way to offer electronic medical records
affordably.

Next, Verizon announced June 15 that it will be
providing its own
branded cloud storage product aimed at enterprises. Verizon Cloud Storage
is designed to work either on its own or in conjunction with existing SAN
or NAS storage systems. Verizon's product is building on a capability that the
company has had for some time, but is only now being offered under its own
brand.

It's significant that in a single day, the IT community has
seen three major, if unrelated, announcements of cloud computing and storage
products. But what's significant may not be what you think. After all, the
whole cloud thing has been part of virtually every IT discussion for the last
year. Even individual consumers are being offered cloud services for offsite
backup. What's significant is that the whole range of cloud services is
starting to show signs of offering more complete systems.

GE's example may be the best one. While much of the world
of cloud computing is theoretical at best, GE Health Care is offering an actual
service that's badly needed by a community of professionals that often doesn't
have ready access to up-to-date IT systems. In many ways, doctor's offices and
small medical practices have a great need for good IT because it helps their
patients, and it can help them by making operations more efficient. But the sea
of regulations that surrounds medical computing is a powerful
disincentive.

GE, in its new product launch, is offering a solution to
a community that badly needs a good, secure, reliable and affordable cloud
service, and has no way to get it. While this service is just for the medical
community, it opens the door for the hundreds of thousands of small businesses that
may not deal with medical records but that need a path to secure, reliable and
affordable IT systems.

Taking the Leap into Cloud Computing

Verizon and HP, meanwhile, also open new paths to the
cloud for companies that haven't been using it effectively in the past. While
there are a number of cloud storage companies already serving the enterprise,
Verizon has the credibility-and the clout-to be attractive to large
enterprises. It's a little less clear what HP has in mind, except that the company
is indicating that it will be offering cloud solutions and cloud-capable
applications that allow companies to take advantage of virtualization by
offering support for cloud services.

What's critical, however, aren't these specific
announcements. What's important is the trend. Piece by piece, companies are
beginning to offer cloud-based solutions that can be used by actual companies
relatively easily. Until recently, the discussion about computing or storage in
the cloud has mostly been about what could be done, someday. Now the discussion
is moving to what is being done and is available either now or in the near
future.

Cloud computing and cloud storage aren't the answer to
all needs for all companies, but the technology and the services that come with
it are very important. There's no reason, for example, that a small company can't
put its point-of-sale operation or its inventory control software in the cloud
and spend a lot less money than it does maintaining its own data center. There's
also no reason why a smaller company can't use cloud services when it
previously had no way to automate any of its operations.

While the industry has a way to go before it can offer
affordable cloud services to every mom-and-pop grocery store or landscaping
company, the trend is in that direction. After all, most small medical offices
only consist of a few people, a limited number of services and a lot of
records. How long will it be before those records become inventory records, and
those appointments are for yard work instead of summer camp physical
exams?

The leap into cloud-based software isn't that big, but
the number of companies that need to make that leap is immense. While it's
unlikely that there will be a cloud service, cloud software or cloud storage
that's appropriate for every business, the broad availability of affordable
cloud services will be a significant benefit to business as a whole because it
will bring enterprise-class operations to businesses of any size, at the same
time lowering the cost of doing business. The good news is that the process has
already started, as this one day's worth of announcements indicates.